Government Strings Strangle West Coast

The Government wants to further strangle the West
Coast with what ACT is describing as the ‘underhanded and
unfair’ strings it has now attached to the $100 million
offered in exchange for the region’s native timber
logging industry.

The Government’s attempts to control
the $100 million has angered ACT’s Forestry Spokesman
Ken Shirley who says the Government is continuing its lies
and deceit on the Coast. “Given this Government’s
history of reneging on agreements with the people of the
West Coast, what confidence can Coasters have that any
conditions they sign up to today will be honoured by the
Government tomorrow?

“The Government hastily came up
with this money to try to shut Coasters up. They sold the
$100 million on the basis that it was money for Coasters to
be run by Coasters. Jim Anderton is now telling coasters
that in fact he’ll be running the fund and they can take it
or leave it.

“The Mayors of the Coast are right to be
offended by the Government’s sudden dictate that there
will be special Maori appointments to the Trust that will
administer the money and job preference for Maori. These
conditions have never been mentioned before. They are
unfair and underhanded.

“It is an affront to the
Maori community who are rightly rejecting Jim Anderton’s
patronising and separatist conditions.

“The Mayors are
still waiting for answers to the questions they put to Jim
Anderton and Michael Cullen at their first meeting weeks
ago. The Government has ignored those questions and has
instead imposed their own conditions on the money.

“Jim
Anderton is still refusing to say whether the Government
will honour the existing rimu contracts. Knowing the
blind ideology that is driving this Government I fear they
are about to pull those contracts as well.

“The arrogance
with which Jim Anderton is treating the Mayors and people of
the West Coast is sickening. Having taken the
livelihoods of Coasters he has no right to sit in Wellington
dictating these outrageous conditions.

“Jim Anderton
should remember that he and his Labour colleagues put the
Coast into this dire situation. He cannot now sit in
Wellington and tell Coasters that they should be grateful
for the crumbs he is throwing them,” said Hon Ken Shirley.

ENDS

For more information visit ACT online at http://www.act.org.nz or
contact the ACT Parliamentary Office at
act@parliament.govt.nz.

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